Act Now!
The Blackbeard Pirates struck first!
Marshall D. Teach erupted into boisterous laughter as he activated his Devil Fruit power, dark energy surging through his massive frame like living shadow.
Behind him, Jesus Burgess, the captain of the first ship and Blackbeard's right-hand man, slammed his massive fists into the ground like twin sledgehammers. The earth shattered beneath the devastating impact, sending chunks of debris flying in all directions. Bending down with practiced ease, he hefted a boulder the size of a house and hurled it skyward at the God Slayer hovering overhead.
Doc Q, Van Augur, and Lafitte quickly dispersed across the battlefield, seeking tactical positions.
The whistling projectile hurtled toward Oboro at tremendous speed, but an invisible barrier of compressed air intercepted it, shattering the massive stone into harmless fragments that rained down like deadly hail.
Just as Burgess's opening assault concluded, Van Augur, despite his wounded neck, swiftly repositioned himself and squeezed the trigger. His bullet traced a sharp trajectory through the swirling debris field, finally coming to rest mere centimeters from Oboro's head, held motionless by the swirling air currents.
The immediate crisis seemed averted.
But Lafitte, who had already shifted to the ground behind Oboro's blind spot, drew his staff sword and suddenly leaped with explosive force. A pair of pristine white wings unfurled from his back as he spiraled through the air, leaving a shimmering afterimage. His blade slashed toward the back of Oboro's skull in a perfectly executed aerial strike.
These coordinated attacks flowed seamlessly into one another with military precision.
However, just like Burgess's boulder and Van Augur's bullets, Lafitte's sword strikes seemed to slice through solid air, an impenetrable void that refused to yield. No matter how he shifted his angle of attack or attempted to find openings from different vectors, an invisible wall of compressed atmosphere blocked every assault.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
On the ground below, Van Augur's gunfire never ceased, each shot calculated for maximum effect.
Burgess continued his relentless bombardment, repeatedly hammering the earth and hurling massive stone slabs at their airborne opponent. They were buying precious time for their captain to prepare his devastating counterattack.
It seemed they were placing all their faith in Blackbeard's overwhelming power.
Teach pressed his palm against the ground, and dark matter rapidly spread outward like a pollution source, covering an area over a thousand meters in radius. The surrounding trees, debris, and even fragments of stone seemed to drown in the expanding "black water," absorbed into the endless void of his Yami Yami no Mi.
Despite Blackbeard's characteristic grin, his expression carried unmistakable undertones of genuine fear.
As a former member of the Whitebeard Pirates, he knew Golden Lion Shiki well... The legendary pirate had been as powerful and renowned as Whitebeard himself during their era. The fact that this God Slayer could defeat someone wielding the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, a Devil Fruit that granted control over gravity and levitation, was genuinely terrifying.
Furthermore, although they had struck first with everything they possessed, their coordinated assault had produced absolutely no effect.
The God Slayer hadn't even begun his counterattack.
Teach, with his extensive knowledge of Devil Fruit abilities, instantly formulated a strategic battle plan. Since the God Slayer was clearly a Devil Fruit user who relied on absolute air superiority, he wouldn't dare land on the ground. While airborne, his Yami Yami no Mi's gravitational pull had certain restraining effects, allowing him to protect his ground-based companions from direct attacks. The only concern was that if Oboro maintained his aerial advantage, he could avoid the Dark-Dark Fruit's crushing influence while launching devastating long-range strikes. In that scenario... the situation would become dire indeed.
"No wonder he managed to defeat that old monster, Golden Lion... Zehahahaha!"
Teach's laughter boomed across the battlefield.
"Liberation!"
Another thunderous roar followed his declaration.
The dark matter that had been spreading outward suddenly contracted and vanished as his massive body expanded. A terrifying black tornado erupted skyward behind him, howling with unnatural fury. Within the churning dark winds, the staggering amount of previously absorbed matter was violently expelled outward.
The released deluge felt as if it were "blocking out the sky," filling the entire airspace with deadly projectiles.
This torrent of expelled matter carried incredible kinetic force and destructive potential.
"Zehahahaha..."
Blackbeard's maniacal laughter continued unabated.
Oboro's position wasn't high enough to escape, and at this critical moment, it was too late to gain sufficient altitude.
"Don't underestimate me! God Slayer..."
Blackbeard licked his lips with predatory anticipation, his voice thick with murderous ambition.
Oboro's relatively small figure was instantly engulfed by the dense storm of objects filling the sky. However... compressed air currents had formed an impenetrable shield around him, creating a protective barrier at the storm's center. Whether the projectiles were massive boulders or splintered vegetation, they all deflected harmlessly upon impact.
"Ugh."
Witnessing this display, Blackbeard's arrogant expression suddenly shifted, his pupils contracting with shock.
The confident smirk vanished from his weathered features.
He couldn't help but take an involuntary step backward.
Then...
While the residual power of his ability hadn't completely dissipated, he waved his arm frantically and shouted, "Let's go!"
With that desperate command, he turned and fled once again.
In the air above, Oboro's eyebrows lowered as he glanced through the gaps between the chaotic debris at several figures below, already running at full speed. A faint smile crossed his features.
Then he moved.
The vast "torrent" that hung between him and the Blackbeard Pirates was instantly swept aside by an invisible "air tide," scattered like dust and mist before a hurricane.
He lifted his foot and took a single, deliberate step forward.
As his foot touched the ground, he appeared instantaneously on the battlefield below.
At that moment... Blackbeard felt as if time itself had slowed, as if space had frozen around him.
His enhanced senses and vision clearly perceived the God Slayer approaching the still-running Burgess... Strangely, he alone seemed capable of processing these events, yet his speed and reflexes prevented any meaningful reaction.
As for Burgess and his companions, they appeared reduced to motionless statues under the overwhelming pressure of superhuman velocity.
Burgess's face still wore the excitement and determination of his attempted escape.
"How could this be?"
Teach's mind went completely blank.
In his estimation, while his Dark-Dark Fruit couldn't directly harm Oboro, it should have at least bought them precious time to escape or reposition.
The sheer volume of matter absorbed and violently expelled by his power had been astronomical.
"To think... he could shatter through it so effortlessly."
Blackbeard's expression turned grim as he gathered dark matter in his massive hands.
His desperate desire to save his crew seemed to have temporarily freed him from the constraining effects of accelerated time.
He raised his enormous hand and lunged toward the nearby God Slayer.
Anyone touched by his Dark-Dark Fruit power would temporarily lose their abilities.
Since Oboro had dared to come within reach... perhaps this represented their only chance for survival!
Oboro noticed Teach's desperate charge and regarded the approaching man with cold calculation.
Teach's physical strength was genuinely formidable.
However, Oboro had no intention of holding back. Instead, he unleashed his full devastating potential.
Oboro raised his own hand, his palm swirling with advanced Armament Haki and the manifestation of "death energy", a liquid-like substance that resembled the dark matter conjured by Blackbeard's abilities, yet infinitely more lethal.
Blackbeard's grin widened with desperate confidence.
His greatest advantage lay in the God Slayer's likely ignorance of his special ability. Seeing Oboro's incoming strike... Teach's massive hand immediately moved to intercept it.
What good was Haki against the Dark-Dark Fruit?
Haki could suppress Devil Fruit powers, but effectiveness depended entirely on the relative strength of the wielders...
Snap.
In an instant, Teach's palm grasped Oboro's incoming fist.
Then, sensing something terrifyingly wrong, his triumphant smile froze completely.
A sphere of crackling black lightning suddenly erupted around Oboro's captured fist...
"As expected... someone capable of slaying Golden Lion Shiki, his Haki mastery..."
"It seems... he didn't rely on luck to defeat Shiki after all."
Teach finally understood the truth with crystal clarity.
"This time... we're truly finished!"
After this grim realization, Blackbeard's agonized scream shattered the battlefield silence. The terrifying force of Oboro's enhanced strike launched him through the air, his massive body erupting into a crimson mist of blood and torn flesh.
The pain he endured in that moment transcended ordinary human comprehension.
On the opposite side, Burgess and the others seemed to suddenly escape the flow of accelerated time, becoming aware of their current desperate situation.
However, it was already far too late.
Just as Burgess began to turn around, Oboro's hand, moving like a blade wreathed in black energy, traced a deadly arc through the air and swept across his exposed neck.
In that instant, Burgess's head, with its frozen smile of confident escape, separated cleanly from his shoulders.
After spinning several times through the air, it finally rolled across the blood-soaked ground.
One strike. Instant death.